![The 29 billion plastic water bottles produced for use in the United States each year require the equivalent of 17 million barrels of crude oil. [Credit: Chris Chidsey]](http://scienceline.org/_s/files/2008/02/plasticbottle.jpg)
ask scienceline | environment
Does it cost more to recycle a plastic bottle than to make a new one?
– Asks Gloria from Whidbey Island, Washington
** Editor’s Note: The staff of Scienceline is taking a short break to work on future stories. In the meantime, we will repost some of the site’s most popular articles from the last six months. We will return to publishing new content on May 19. This article originally appeared Feb. 11.
In 1967, Mr. McGuire had one piece of career advice for young Benjamin Braddock – plastics. Indeed. In the 40 years since “The Graduate,” plastic has exploded in applications, from car bumpers to computers, and it has been classified into seven types, including PET #1, the type used for plastic water and soda bottles. Now the looming question is what to do with all that plastic. Of the 2.7 million tons of plastic PET bottles on U.S. shelves in 2006, four-fifths went to landfills.
Setting aside environmental concerns, the economic success or failure of plastics recycling relies on two variables: the cost of the raw materials used to make virgin plastic, petroleum and natural gas, and the cost of recycling versus the cost of disposal, which fluctuates based on a city’s proximity to recycling centers and the price to dump in local landfills. A University of California, Berkeley study estimated that areas like Los Angeles and San Francisco could gain an economic benefit of $200 a ton for recycling instead of dumping. Nonetheless, the cost of recycling a bottle versus making a new one simply varies, depending where the bottle is and what the capricious price of oil happens to be.
Each year, 29 billion plastic water bottles are produced for use in the United States, according to the Earth Policy Institute, an environmental organization in Washington, D.C. Manufacturing them requires the equivalent of 17 million barrels of crude oil, so rising oil and natural gas prices have only exacerbated the high price of virgin plastic. Plastics News, a trade magazine, lists the recent price of PET virgin bottle resin pellets between 83 and 85 cents a pound, compared to only 58 to 66 cents a pound for PET recycled pellets.
Yet escalating plastic prices have done little to curb demand. The amount of PET plastic on U.S. shelves has more than doubled in the last decade, according to the National Association for PET Container Resources (NAPCOR). The increase is a result of the surging demand for bottled water. In 2005, seven and a half billion gallons of water flooded U.S. shelves – roughly equivalent to the average amount of water that flows over Niagara Falls in three hours. That’s 21 times more bottled water than the amount available on shelves in 1976, according to U.S. government data.
All that extra plastic, and the petroleum used to make it, is expensive. NAPCOR estimates that 5.5 billion pounds of PET bottles and jars passed over U.S. shelves in 2006. Making this many PET bottles and jars today from virgin plastic would cost $4.5 billion just for the raw materials, without considering the cost of operating bottle production plants.
Prior to its reincarnation as industrial carpet or sleeping bag stuffing, a plastic bottle in the recycle bin has a long journey ahead of it. First it goes to a collection facility to be inspected for contaminants like rock or glass. Then it is washed and chopped into flakes. The flakes are dried and melted into plastic lava, which is filtered for impurities and formed into strands. Finally, the strands are cooled in water and chopped into pellets that can go to market.
Landfills, however, are the final resting place for most bottles. Ostensibly this is the cheaper option. But landfill tipping fees, the dumping tariffs levied to offset the cost of creating, maintaining and closing a landfill, can be quite expensive compared to recycling. This is especially true in densely populated areas like the East Coast or areas like Florida with shallow water tables. In fact, fees can run from $10 a ton to over $100, according to Jerry Powell, editor of the trade publication Plastics Recycling Update. Additionally, dumping wastes a valuable commodity: In 2005, about half a billion dollars worth of PET bottles went to landfills, according to the Container Recycling Institute, a non-profit organization.
Rising plastic prices have forced some companies that bottle their product, like Coca-Cola, to think twice about using expensive virgin plastic resin. Now they are working to make more lightweight bottles that contain more recycled resin, Powell explained. Bottles made with thinner plastic use 30 percent less resin and rely on the water or liquid inside to maintain their shape. Using less resin per bottle could translate to a savings on raw materials of about $1.5 billion a year for the bottling industry. Powell thinks it’s a positive step for business and the environment. “That’s what we need,” he remarked. “Less plastic. Not just recycling.”
February 11th, 2008 at 2:28 pm
Just a minor point — it’s not just industrial carpeting that you can make with recycled plastic. I put in very nice wall-to-wall carpeting last year that is 100% recycled plastic. You’d never know it!
Cathy Dold
(SHERP 6)
February 11th, 2008 at 5:52 pm
Everyone should try to use less plastic bottles all together, rather than worrying about whether or not to recycle. We use way too much plastic these days, primarily from our decision to drink nothing but bottled water. Get the facts about bottled water and how much it hurts our environment at
February 11th, 2008 at 5:53 pm
www.BottledWaterBlues.com
February 12th, 2008 at 2:48 am
let’s comsume less!
less food envelopment, and back to glass!
February 12th, 2008 at 8:36 am
Interessante, anche qui in italia ci stiamo chiedendo sempre più spesso dove finirà la plastica quando il nostro paese sarà completamente pieno! Anch’io tornerei volentieri al buon vecchio VETRO!!
February 13th, 2008 at 3:12 am
Chris, it is so curious that just yesterday I read an interesting editorial on the webpage of the most popular Italian newspaper, “Il Corriere della Sera”, regarding the battle of some important authorities in Venice against the unreasonable and expensive vogue of drinking bottled water. Remarkable the fact that these ideas come simultaneously from two so different men: the Patriarch of Venice (that obviously reports to the conservative Vatican City) and Massimo Cacciari (the progressive major of Venice). The Patriarch launched a campaign called “Imbrocchiamola” (that means more or less “let’s fill the pitcher”) that persuaded the waterworks company of Venice to send 100.000 Venetian families a pitcher, in order to urge people to drink tap water! The Major, on the other hand, decided to stop using bottled water during municipal meetings, and underlined the impact of the cost of bottled water on family budgets (3,2 billions euro is the turnover of the bottled water sector in Italy) . This line of conduct is becoming popular in Italy (also the famous actor Paolini is drinking only tap water during his performances) and it is an encouraging signal in a country literally covered with rubbish.
February 13th, 2008 at 1:27 pm
One thing that is rarely mentioned about bottled water is the amount of pollution that is created when they are manufacturing the bottle and then how much pollution is created driving the water to the stores and then driving the empty bottles to landfill or recycling. Its a tremendous amount of pollution and its absolutely not necessary as water flows from a tap within a few feet of all the lazy dolts that drink bottled water.
February 21st, 2008 at 5:25 pm
One way to make a statement is to buy only packages that use recycled PET in the content of the new packages. Some of the big companies are taking this initiative but not all. Check the web site of the product/company and look for their sustainability practice. Some companies say they promote recycling but don’t use the actual recycled materials. If a company is using recycled materials in their packaging they won’t be shy about stating this. If we boycott those who are not on board, they will be pressured into making recycling material a priority.
March 12th, 2008 at 5:23 pm
It is now widely known that there are pharmaceuticals in much of our tap water, affecting wildlife and doing unknown damage to humans, potentially infants and children. So it sounds like the best option is to filtrate your tap water. What no news report seems to be answering though, is what is going to remove the pharmaceuticals from the tap water and can our store-bought filtration systems do the job or do the drugs pass right through?
http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH.....newssearch
April 15th, 2008 at 1:57 pm
read more
April 15th, 2008 at 2:00 pm
this is a little retarded
April 15th, 2008 at 2:01 pm
jus playin its cool
April 16th, 2008 at 10:57 pm
We do business about PET recycling, we bring the value in PET recycling, unlike the existing PET recycleing & processing plants adopting the not-responsible, interest-oriented technology. The used PET bottles, being the destined industral specifics, need to be recycled in an efficient channels to fulfill various solutions.
We hereby welcome those who contribute their proposals concerning the efficient PET bottles recycling methodology in U.S.A.
April 28th, 2008 at 8:30 am
if plastic is being thrown in our oceans and on the grounfds and its killing our enviorment why not ban pllastic and come up withy different alternitives for our drinking cups and bumpers… its not worth destroying our planet just too make life easier becasue in the end were realy making life harder for our gandchildren and then there grandchildren the earth isnt gonna be around much longer if we keep letting people destroy the place we love
April 30th, 2008 at 1:13 pm
In Otero County, NM, USA, the only place that accepts PET 1 & 2 plastic bottles won’t take them anymore in a few months… this as 87 octane gas has now reached about $3.50 per gallon.
A few people here are looking into this, hoping to set up a plastic recycle system regardless of the “cost-effectiveness” of it all.
Wish us luck, eh?
May 6th, 2008 at 1:24 pm
BIOPLASTICS IS THE ANSWER…
Do your own due dilligence on this and see for youerself.
It doesn’t take petroleum to make it, and it turns to worm food in soil after 180 days…
PROBLEM SOLVED!
May 6th, 2008 at 1:26 pm
link to a California based company that produces bioplastic resin pellets…
www.cereplast.com